


Justice League, Meet The Bats

by Emmyb102



Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU (Comics)
Genre: #onlyingotham, Batfamily Meets Justice League, Cross-Posted on Wattpad, Gen, How Do I Tag, I Blame Tumblr, I Don't Even Know, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Kidnapped Tim Drake, Minor canon divergence, No Metas/Aliens In Gotham Rule, Not Beta Read, Wrote What I Wanted To Read, not quite crack
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-04
Updated: 2020-04-06
Packaged: 2020-10-27 10:20:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 9,026
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20758787
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Emmyb102/pseuds/Emmyb102
Summary: Tim is kidnapped, the Justice League come to the rescue because Batman is off world.Little do they know that the Waynes are not normal people....





	1. Kidnapped

**Author's Note:**

> DC owns all Characters. If you see any issues with the story or grammatical errors, please point them out to me!

"Drake is late." Damian stated to the room in irritation.

Dick looked anxious, "Baby bird usually isn't late."

"Calm down, Dickie, the kid probably just passed out. When was the last time he slept?" Jason pointed out from where he leaned against the wall.

"But it's family dinner night. He never misses dinner night!"

Jason rolled his eyes at Dick's antics, "B is off world. I wouldn't be here either."

Dick just shook his head, "no, something's not right. I'm gonna call Oracle."

Before he could move, the TV turned itself on, "**Attention Gothamites!**"

The three boys looked to the TV, Dick instantly feeling dreadful. On screen was Tim, knocked out and chained to a wall.

"**I have kidnapped one Timothy Drake-Wayne! If Bruce Wayne would like him back alive, I require fifty million dollars! I will give you five hours to make the necessary arrangements then I will contact you again!**"

The TV flicked off again.

Dick turned to Jason with a told-you-so look before pulling out his phone and calling Barbra.

"Tt, Drake can't even protect himself."

"Shut up Demon Brat. Replacement was probably stuck in his head, running calculations or something, when they got the drop on him." Jason said, not entirely sure why he was defending Tim other than that Damian was getting on his nerves.

"Babs said his phone's still in his office and his tracker was last active there as well. She doesn't know where he is, but she's working on tracking who made the broadcast." Dick informed them, interrupting the argument before it could happen. "She also told me that the Justice League has been made aware of this and are coming here to find him."

"What!"

"Tt, Gordon should not have told anyone. We can find him ourselves."

"Babs didn't tell them, Flash had monitor duty and Superman told him to keep an eye on Gotham because, quote, 'if anything happens to his city, he'll never leave again'." Dick says, a smirk on his face despite the situation, "they're likely on their way here now to talk to us, Jim isn't going to get involved unless we ask him to. Babs also informed the others who will be in the cave by dark."

"So are we meeting them as us or as _us_?" Jason asks, kicking off from his position at the wall.

"As us, then later tonight, as_ us_." The doorbell rings just as Dick finishes talking and they wait in silence as Alfred leads the League into the room.

"Wow," Dick smiles, putting on his playboy act, "Wonder Woman in the flesh! What good thing did I do to deserve this?"

Jason snorts, from his new position behind the League, "I'm more interested in the Martian." The two boys look at him questioningly, "mind reader, shapeshifter."

Damian tuts but Dick smiles in understanding, "so what are you guys here for?"

The league looked at each other, Martian Manhunter carefully asking, "are you aware that your brother has been kidnapped?"

Damian tuts again, mumbling, "he is not my brother."

Dick talks over him with a shrug, "I mean yeah, but Batman deals with it quickly, usually without talking to us. I mean, sometimes, he gets us back so fast it's like he has trackers on us."

The League tensed a little at Dick's joke, Jason frowning behind them, "he probably does, it's _Batman_ we're talking about here." He pauses, "where is he anyway? Isn't he a part of your team? And where's Superman?"

"They're on another assignment, Batman left this to us." Wonder Woman tells them quickly, then goes on to ask, "do you know who might want to kidnap your brother?"

Damian tuts, Dick gives a wide pitying smile, and Jason snorts, all saying in unison, "he's a _Wayne_."

"You all seem pretty chill with it," Green Lantern points out, Flash nodding along beside him.

"If you haven't picked up on this yet," Jason says, enunciating like he was talking to a dumb person, "this happens all the time. The police don't even come down here every time it happens anymore. It's not even front page news anymore-" He cuts himself off and gives Dick a sardonic look, "I think it stopped being front page news after the fiftieth time boy blunder over there got kidnapped."

Dick nodded sagely, "they couldn't get over my good looks and charming personality."

Jason chokes on a laugh, "more like couldn't stop looking at that ass of yours. Is that how you distracted them for Batman? Swung those hips, batted those eyes, pretty sure they would have done anything you asked."

Dick squawked indignantly, "I'll have you know, I knocked one out before Batman even showed up the first time!"

Damian spoke up from the other side of the room, "yes, Todd. You're the only one who feels at home kneeling on the ground."

Before the Leaguers could react, Jason was already past them and three feet from Damian before Dick caught him, "alright Little Wing, calm down. Dami, apologize."

Damian huffed, "I will not. I still do not see why father would take in a street rat. Who knows what he did before."

Jason went deathly still in Dick's arms, growling out in a manner that shocked and scared the League, "Dick, you better knock me out, because I'm about to kill him."

Quickly, Dick turned him around, facing the league, who now saw the murderous rage in his eyes, "calm down Jay-bird, Damian didn't mea- Damian doesn't know what he's talking about." He amends after a flash of a look from the angry, struggling man. "Do you want me to call Alfred? He would not like this behavior in front of our guests."

Slowly, Jason stopped fighting, the anger still there, just bubbling under the surface, he took a deep breath, "okay, let me go."

Dick dropped his hands, but stayed between the two, as Jason turned his attention to the leaguers in front of him, "have you talked to any of the Bats or Birds in town?"

"Birds?" Flash asked, turning to Aquaman, "can you talk to birds?"

Aquaman shook his head, "no, but I don't think that he was talking about actual birds."

The three boys turned to Flash with almost identical looks of 'are you stupid', Dick putting his face in his hands, moaning, "I wish Batman was here!"

"Tt, indeed, with these people, we are unlikely to get Drake back. I wonder how Batman deals with all their incompetence?"

"The _Bats_ and _Birds_ are vigilantes that help out Batman from time to time. They've helped get each of us back at one point or another." Jason informs them dryly, "your best bet is to talk to them, though I doubt they don't already know you're in the city, so they'll likely come to you. Even though I'm pretty sure they can handle it on their own."

"Okay..." Wonder Woman says, "do you know where we can find them?"

Dick shrugs, "find a roof, they'll find you, though probably not till dark, they're rather nocturnal, like the Batman."

"Where's your father?" Manhunter asks, bringing up a point that the other Leaguers missed.

"Well, if you did your homework before barging into somebody else's territory," Batgirl says from the shadows, "you'd know he's in Europe on business."

The League whirls around to where her voice came from in shock, but the blonde just continues on, "it's nice to see that Jason is always this angry. I thought it was just when he was kicking in his kidnapper's faces."

Jason gives a snarky smirk at her, while Dick beams at her, "Batgirl! Why the visit? Is Black Bat with you?"

She slides through the Leaguers, giving Jason a fist bump as she passed to give Dick a hug, "hey Demon Brat," she greets Damian.

"Fatgirl," he acknowledges.

"Black Bat is in the BatCave, helping Oracle try to find out who broadcasted, also, you had a package delivered by a street kid." Batgirl tells them, holding up a manila envelope. "I already checked it for prints, but all I got was the kid's. There's a CD and a location."

Jason takes the envelope and shakes out the CD, putting it in the DVD player as Dick asks her, "did you check out his office? He said he'd work there till dinner."

"Yeah, I checked, not much there, Black Bat's putting all the evidence in the report for the cops. Here's his phone, by the way," she hands it over, "newest WayneTech. You should hook a girl up."

Dick takes it with a smile, "I'll see what I can do. You planning on meeting up with the Bats after this?"

She nods, "Red Robin's down with the something from his fight with Ivy last night though."

Dick nods, turning to the TV where Jason had finally got it set up.

"**Hello, I would like fifty million in exchange for the boy's life! Don't worry, we didn't hurt him, ****_yet_****. As you can see, he's sleeping off a drug right now, but he'll wake up in a bit. While you get your assets together, I'll let you watch him. On that paper is the location I want the money dropped at midnight. On the back is a website where you can watch a live stream of the boy. I would rather not kill the boy, but if you miss your deadline, I won't be in charge anymore, and my boss is a very nasty man. So don't be late, and don't be short.**"

The DVD finished and Jason popped it out, putting it back in the envelope and taking out the paper to take a picture of, then handing it back to Batgirl. Dick waved at her as she left with the envelope, walking right out the door, "good luck!"

The League was silent for a moment, processing what happened, and the girl's complete lack of interest in them, Flash broke that silence, "What just happened?"

Jason had pulled out a computer from nowhere, setting it on the table and pulled up the website, Dick and Damian crowding behind him to see. "What just happened was; you met Batgirl, we watched a DVD, Batgirl left with said DVD as evidence, we are now watching a live stream of our brother getting beat." Dick told them, "now, you should probably go find a roof to wait on if you still wanna help out, because you just missed your chance to ask her."

Damian scoffed, wincing at something on the screen, "Gotham is perfectly capable of taking care of herself without these outsiders getting in the way trying to help."

Jason frowned, eyes focused on the screen, "oh, that had to hurt. Don't forget Demon Spawn, you were an outsider till just a few years ago. Dick, you're not gonna be able to hug him for awhile."

Dick frowned deeply, "I know, that's definitely gonna bruise." He looks back at the league, "well, if you're gonna go try to help find our brother, go, he's not getting any healthier."


	2. Searching

As the Justice League file out, walked back the the front door by Alfred, the boys continue to calmly watch the screen. Once Alfred came back, they jumped into action, leaving the computer for Alfred, if he wanted to watch it, they raced to the BatCave.

Once in costume, they went through what they knew with the girls. "Lark is out of town, Batwoman too, right? Where's Bluebird?"

"Said she'd take over Blüdhaven for you," Batgirl tells Nightwing, eyes on her Robin getting beat on screen.

"Good, have we got a lead?"

"_Not much, I was hoping Hood could get some intel from the streets, you know the drill_."

Hood nodded, "keep me updated, and don't forget to meet the League, as much as I would like to just leave them, B doesn't like Metas in town, even heroes, and especially not unattended."

They all give him a nod as he races his bike out of the cave, going to check his sources.

"Where's the drop point?"

"Crime Alley."

"Tell Hood. How about the IP address for the website?"

"_I've got my algorithms digging, but it's being routed through many corporations both here and abroad_."

"So they're good, notify me once you get it. Robin, lets go talk to the League. Batgirl, BB, patrol Gotham, we'll call you for back up if needed, but we should be good. The League's gotta be good for something, otherwise B wouldn't stay with them."

They all nod, and Robin and Nightwing take off in the Batmobile.

"_The League is waiting on the 'C' building, Flash seems to be missi-" Oracle cuts herself off, "he's patrolling. League's not using a communication system so they're probably talking via mind link with the Martian._"

"Thanks, Oracle, we're on our way, have you talked to Hood yet?"

"_Yes. He's in Crime Alley now, looking for disturbances and talking to a contact. So far, there's talk of a new gang, thinks they did this to gain a foothold. Could explain why they were stupid enough to kidnap him, they don't know who lives here._"

"Well, we better nip that in the bud. Any chatter online about it?"

"_Some, I'm in the process of verifying them now._"

"Alright, I'll keep this line on so you can hear the conversation, feel free to comment as well."

"_Gotcha._"

They park a few blocks away, swinging into the shadows, it's still not dark yet, but they blend in anyway, sneaking up on the League. "Justice League." They jump in surprise, and Nightwing continues, "we were wondering when you'd show up. Too bad Red isn't here to see this, he's kinda a fan of the Flash."

They seem taken back by his chattiness, and just stand there staring.

"Hey now, I know I'm hot, but I don't think you came to Gotham to gawk at me."

Manhunter clears his throat, "ah, yes, we came to assist in finding Timothy Wayne, the boy who was kidnapped. We did not know that there were others here capable of finding him. Batman never told us about you." He paused, "and you are?"

"Nightwing, nice to meet you, this is Robin. We were just about to check out some leads." Nightwing tells them, gesturing to the shadows where Robin still waited.

"_N._"

Nightwing holds up a finger, "yeah Oracle? You got something for me?"

"_Hood said that there's a good chance the kidnappers are in Old Gotham. Hood is headed to check that lead out. Flash is also on his way over._"

"Alright, thanks. We'll wait for Flash before heading out." He turns back to the League, who looked at him in slight awe.

"Oracle's a person? We thought it was a program Batman made for our systems." Green Lantern said, dumbfounded, the others nodding along. 

Flash zoomed in at that moment, and Nightwing grinned, "you hear that Oracle? They thought Batman could make a program as sophisticated as that!"

"_Not in a million years._"

Nightwing laughed, shaking his head, "Oracle's most definately a person, and they are almost as amused that you thought B could make something that complicated as I am. B's not exactly our go to computer guy. I mean, he's good, just not _that_ good. He'd be like our fourth choice-"

"_N, Hood's getting impatient._"

"Right." He focuses on the heroes once more. "Look, either leave, or stay with us, but I can't have you running around by yourselves at night. You could die, then B will kill me. Not to mention you're Metas and Aliens, B would kill me just for leaving you unattended."

They shared a look with each other, Manhunter nodding, "we will come with you, if you'd allow it."

"Great!" Nightwing smiles and claps his hands together, "Robin, get out here and introduce yourself so they don't accidentally target you again."

"Again?" Flash repeated, watching the boy step out of the shadows. "You're that kid that was tailing Batman while he helped me out in Central!"

Robin sneered, "and you're the hoodlum who tried to attack me, and consequently fell off a building."

Flash blushed, mumbling, "I tripped."

"Yes, tripped on my bo staff when you lunged for me. Without much fineness, I'll add."

Flash dropped the subject, Nightwing beamed at the boy, "well, I see you make friends everywhere you go, Baby Bat!"

Robin tuts, frowning, as Nightwing turns back to the League, "we'll be going to Old Gotham, Green Lantern, can you transport the ones who can't fly? I'd offer to drive you all, but the Batmobile doesn't have that kind of room." He breaks off, muttering, "I should ask B for a Batvan." He turns to Robin, "you think B would make a Batvan? It would have to still be fast and agile though...I'll ask when he gets back."

They were staring at him again, until Flash pokes Green Lantern who answers, "yeah, I can give them a lift, are you gonna show us the way?"

"Yep!" Nightwing chirps, waving for them to follow him, Robin had already disappeared back into the shadows, "O, this is N, I'm leading the League to Old Gotham, alert Hood. I don't want an injured Leaguer because he shot before he looked."

He lead them through the streets, Green Lantern flying everyone above them in a giant green bubble.

They park in the alley next to Hood's bike, where Hood is crouched on the roof above them.

"Not gonna try and steal the tires again, right?" Nightwing jokes, landing next the the brooding man.

"Fuck you. If I remember correctly, that's what made Batman take me in." Red Hood retorts, "the Birds aren't with you?"

The League raise a collective eyebrow, _tried to steal Batman's tires, Batman takes him under his wing, go figure._

"Nah, I told them to patrol Gotham, Blue took over for me in Blüdhaven."

"That was nice of her." Hood comments dryly, ignoring the tut from Robin. "So, the Wayne Boy again?"

"Yep, must be Tuesday."

Hood snorts, static coming through his voice modulators, "I bet the boy's already convinced them to 'let him go and change their ways'." He mocks, "you remember that one? That was a fun night, had pizza with him before dropping him back off. Fucking kid's a pro kidnapee. Wasn't even fazed by it."

Nightwing's lips twitch up at the reminder, "so where do you think he is?"

Hood nods his head to the side, where his sniper was located. "Two buildings over, third floor, third window from the right."

Nightwing and Robin head over to the corner of the roof, taking out their Batnoculars, and taking a look. 

"Remember when we saved Dick that one time. Kid slept through most of his kidnapping because it 'bored him to listen to the idiots monologue'." Hood continued, a smile in his voice, "woke up during the fight, and asked if we could pop by the store on the way back because he was out of cereal."

Robin gave a tut, Nightwing altogether ignoring the pointed reminder, "I'm not seeing much activity."

Hood snorts again, "Course not, Batman just came flying down the street, wait a few minutes."

Hood looks over the League, "so, you're who Bats dumped us for?"

They were quiet, awed at their complete lack of seriousness, then Flash zoomed over, only to find a gun in his face, "not so fast, I get twitchy." Slowly, Flash backed away, and Hood put his gun back. "And didn't anyone ever teach you not to look into someone's mind, Martian?" Manhunter looked a little guilty, then surprised at being caught. "Trust me, you don't wanna see what's in my mind, so stay out of it."

He turned his attention to Green Lantern, "so I always wondered; how does the ring work? Can it make like anything you can think of, or does it already have to be made and proven to work?" Lantern looked taken back, "like for instance, if I wanted you to make a time machine, could you make it and have it work, or would you have to know the specifics of how a time machine and time travel worked?"

"Uh, I don't know, I never tried something like that, but from my understanding, it wouldn't work. I could ask the Corps when I return there, though." Lantern offered, uncertain.

"Oh, sucks, I would have loved to have gone back in time and stopped myself from stealing the Batmobile's tires, would have saved me a lot of trouble."

"Hood!" Nightwing whisper yelled before anyone could reply, and they followed him over to where the other two stood watch. "You're right, I see more movement, but I can't see Tim, heat detection says that there's nine people inside, but no outgoing signals, so either the live stream isn't on anymore, or they aren't here."

"_Live stream is still going, Tim is talking to his captors between blows now, but I cant get a good enough angle to see what he's saying._"

"Alright, so this isn't it, but they do have guns. I think your intel was right on that front, I think they are starting a new gang. You wanna stay and take care of them?"

Hood contemplates, "no, I'll take them out later, right now they're too weak to start anything for awhile."

"Okay, O, keep an eye on the building, anything big goes in, notify Hood."

"_Got it. Also, my program finished for the broadcast, it was hacked by someone in One Gotham Center._"

"Okay, we'll head over there, how're your Birds doing?" Nightwing asked, signaling everyone to go back to the vehicles.

"_So far it's all been pretty small stuff, considering that it was broadcasted across Gotham that the Bats and Birds would be busy rescuing Tim. Blüdhaven's a different story though, BB has been sent out to help Bluebird, also, Roy's in town. Stopped by the Clocktower to say hello, headed to the Batcave now, I can ask him to join you?"_

"I don't know if that's a good idea, he and GA are still on the outs, if it gets back that he was seen with vigilantes the League didn't even know about, it probably wouldn't help him or us." Hood answered, speaking strictly via com.

"He's right, but he can wait in the cave for us, have him keep Agent A busy so he won't focus on what's happening here."

"_Gotcha._"

"Why can I not get into your heads? Even the boy's head is near impossible." Manhunter asked as they landed on the roof of a building next to the tower.

"Do you always read people's minds without asking? That's rude y'know?" Hood retorted as Robin tutted.

"Do you think Batman would let us out here, knowing his secrets, without training us to never reveal them? Even by accident or Meta power?" Nightwing pointed out calmly as he surveyed the supposed room.

"It's empty, I'm gonna go look for evidence. Hood, look after Robin."

"No way! I ain't looking after the Demon Spawn! Asshole never listens to me, and last time, the _thing_ bit me! No," he vigorously shakes his head, "no, take your Demon dog with you!" Hood practically screamed, backing away from said boy, putting most of the league between them.

Robin just gave him an evil smile that scared even the League. "He's not that bad, see, look, he's smiling."

Flash ran behind Hood like Robin was gonna kill him, "I'm with Hood, thing's a demon."

"See! Even Flash agrees, and he's all scientific and shit!" Hood answered, gesturing behind him like it was evidence.

Nightwing just sighed, "come on Robin, you can check out the room with me, okay?"

Robin's smile disappeared with a firm nod, "that is acceptable."

Nightwing turned and left, Robin following after with a shallow nod to Hood.

"I see what you did there. Robin wanted to go with Nightwing so you lied to help him out." Flash said like he'd just figured out the meaning of the universe.

Hood snorted, "don't let him hear you sat that. He thinks affection will kill him. And no, neither of us want to be left alone with the other. And I didn't lie. The bastard bit through my armor, how, I don't know, it's fucking bullet proof, but he did, and he left a damn scar, _again_!"

They stood in silence for a little bit, til Lantern spoke up, "so, you stole the Bat's tires?"

"Yeah, was on the third tire when he came back, thought he was gonna kill me. Asked me if I was hungry instead. We got burgers, first real food I'd had in months. I complained about the inability to live on the streets without doing something illegal to survive. He asked me if I wanted to be the new Robin." He paused, staring out to Crime Alley, and beyond to the Manor. "Still don't know what the old Bat was thinking, must have been suffering from empty nest syndrome after Big Wing left. Evidently, he was not in his right mind, because I was _not_ the best choice to take up the mantle. Kinda obvious now, but I think it was obvious then too, and he just ignored it."

"Why weren't you the best choice?" Wonder Woman asked tenderly when it seemed like no one else would.

"I never followed the rules, never did as he told, broke the law a couple hundred times. Then I died and came back..._different_."

"_Hood..._" Nightwing warned.

"What, N? It's my story to tell, what are they gonna do? Put me in Arkham? Bats won't let them."

Nightwing backed off, but Hood and grown cautious, he didn't believe Batman would stop them from putting him in Arkham at all. He sighed irritated, "what have you found?"

"_Besides your bleeding heart_?" Nightwing jokes, "_a whole lotta nada._"

"_I've got a hit on my last tracer, they're in Robbinsonville. And I'm seriously hoping that connection is a coincidence. Also, they cut the feed to the website, so you'd better hurry it up boys_."

"_Thanks O. Hood, you lead the League there first, Robin and I will be right behind you. You're welcome to kick down the front door, but rubber bullets only, Hood. Got it?"_

"Yeah, yeah, rubber bullets only. But if anything happened to Tim I'ma forget that order." Hood agrees, turning to the league, "we found him, follow me."


	3. Rescue Not Needed

They race across Gotham, passing Batgirl, who joined him for a few blocks before splitting to a bank robbery.

"We're here, no signs of explosives or heavy artillery. We're going in now." Hood updates, waving them forward, "Aquaman, Martian, Lantern, go through the building, fifth floor, sixth door on the right, Wonder Woman and Flash with me through the windows, I'll give the signal, if Martian will keep up your mind link."

That shocked them, "how do you know about that?"

"It's in your files, we hacked your files, simple deduction." He added sarcastically, "or you could just assume Batman told us all about you guys when we ask for stories before bed." They pause to ask if he was being serious, but he ran them right over, "little kid's life on the line? Granted, he's an annoying little brat, but I'm kinda attached to him now. And I swear to God, N, if that somehow gets back to him, I'm gonna quit the team."

They leave quickly after that, Wonder Woman flying up to the proper floor, waiting to be directed, Flash running to the floor's fire escape, Hood joining him there a few moments later. "I don't know how B deals with you, always flaunting your powers."

He quickly makes his way to the right window, squatting on the ledge, motioning Wonder Woman to one and Flash to another. They wait for Martian's ready then give the signal back, breaking both the front door and the windows. All the bad guys are quivering on the floor, hands already up, Tim sitting on a chair, looking bored and oddly tired.

"You're late. And you brought friends."

Hood sighed, "he's safe, talked them down again. Damn negotiator." He informed the others, bending down to start tying up the surrendered kidnappers.

Tim gave a cocky smile, "I missed you too, Hood."

"_We're about a minute out, got held up at the robbery, Batgirl needed help. How bad is he injured? Who kidnapped him? Are they all there?"_

"How bad's the body, Timbo?"

Tim's smile fell, "a few bruises, concussion, maybe a cracked rib and sprained ankle?"

"Not bad, all things considered. Who are they?"

"Part of Joker's more sane followers, their boss, the one who arranged the videos, ran away when I turned them. Think Joker had something on him, maybe a wife or kids? Didn't seem like he really wanted to do this, you know?"

"When's the last time you slept?" Tim opens his mouth to answer and Hood cuts him off quickly, "being knocked out don't count. You know that, Timmers."

Tim snaps his mouth shut before defending, "okay, but to be fair, WE has a major meeting with LexCorp tomorrow and I've been going back over all my work to buy out their facilities here in Gotham, so sleep just kinda fell down the list of priorities." 

Hood nods, "have you met the Justice League? They already met your brothers, I'm sure that was a _joy_, what with Damian being high and mighty for a brat, and Dick being the flirt he is."

Tim grinned, "what? Nothing about the hot-headed Jason?" Hood snorts, and Tim turns to the League, who are just watching them in shock, _they seem to be doing that a lot today, Gotham sure is a weird place._ "So, how'd you like your first time in Gotham? She's not much in the way of bright and happy, but she grows on you like one of Poison Ivy's plants."

Flash nods, "looks like she's the exact opposite of Central."

Tim zones in on him and starts talking so fast few people could understand him, "so, Flash, the experiment that gave you your powers, I've been looking into what could have caused that, I limited it down to a few chemicals, because there is no way that a simple lightning strike and particle accelerator explosion caused your powers by themselves or even together. So I narrowed it down to two chemicals I think would have been the cause of it, given that the lightning and explosion would have only been an accelerate and catalyst respectively, which would have had to have been Vanadium 2 Oxidide and Manganate. Right?" *

Flash looks frozen and panicked, which made Hood laugh, "finally worked that out? Glad you got it right, bud."

Tim glanced at the men on the ground watching them with wide eyes, "no, it's wrong, he's just surprised I thought that far into it, and he's scared because he thinks that if I keep working on it, I'll eventually find a way to recreate his accident - which, by the way must have caused a coma or something, very lucky it wasn't death, brain death, or epilepsy - I definitely won't, by the way. I was just wondering because Steph complained one night about people with powers, and Flash is the only one I'm aware of with a science based reason for his powers that isn't genetic, though I'm almost certain the fact that you survived it _is_ genetic, which brings me to why I would never try that, being that I don't know what mutation allowed for him to survive while others haven't. But I guess that's just the human body," Tim shrugged.

"Why's it got to be genetic?" Flash asked, intrigued despite himself.

Tim gave him a _look_, "because the only other person to survive it..." he trailed off, but Flash caught on, his face lighting up, "before you ask, I dug that up while I was searching for answers, so you might want to have someone try and hide that better, I recommend Oracle or Red Robin."

"But Red's laid up sick tonight from his battle with Ivy yesterday, otherwise I'm sure he would love to be here techno babbling back at you." Nightwing said as he entered the window, Robin coming out of the shadows by the door.

"Took you long enough, N. What were you doing? Making out with Oracle?" Hood asked sarcastically.

"Tt, we were checking for backup and calling the Commissioner to come get them. You know, doing your job."

"Now now, Robin, his job was to get me to safety, he did that without anyone dying, give him some slack." Tim defended him

"Thank you Tim, I swear. It's like all I do is get picked on by them."

"Of course Hood, you're my second favorite anyway."

That silenced the room before Nightwing asked quietly, "he's _what?"_

"My second favorite. Red Robin's obviously my first, and you're my third. Unless we're counting the Girls, because then Batgirl is my first, Oracle my second, BB my third, then Red Robin, Red Hood, Nightwing. Now if we're counting _everyone_... Agent A's my first."

Hood nodded along, Nightwing sighing, but nodding at the end, Robin just tutted.

The League looked on in wonder, "there's _more_ of you? Where is Batman finding you?" Lantern asked, bringing the Bats' attentions back to them.

"You may leave now." Robin stated, dismissively.

"Robin means thank you for your help, we can see you out of Gotham." Nightwing corrected quickly, waving his hand to the doorway.

"Yeah, we found the brat, Bats won't kill you now, but he will if you don't leave quickly." Hood added, helping Tim stand on a swollen ankle.

"What they all mean, is that it was nice to meet you, thank you for helping save me, they would be happy to escort you out so you don't get lost, and would like you to return to the Watchtower because they're pretty sure you left it basically unmanned." Tim told them with a charming smile. 

They began to file out the door, Hood, Tim, and Nightwing following, Robin staying behind to inform the Commissioner of what had transpired.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Source: https://aminoapps.com/c/comics/page/blog/flash-chemicals-actually-exist/55iV_uPz3o5LPPqeBGqXZ6vKBDZa8W


	4. Batman Returns

When Batman comes back, he knows something is wrong, the whole team is looking at him weird. "You went to Gotham."

No one spoke, it was a rule not to go into Gotham unless explicitly told by Batman or the world was ending and he was dead. "_Why _did you go to Gotham?"

Still no one spoke, all scared, Batman focused his Batglare on Flash, who crumbled in seconds, talking in speed-mode, "Timothy Wayne was kidnapped, we didn't want anything bad to happen in your city while you were gone, and we didn't know you had other vigilantes there."

"Is he back unharmed?"

"He's alive, minimum injury Hood said."

"Who all did you meet?"

"The Wayne Brothers, Batgirl, Nightwing, Robin, and Red Hood, but they mentioned others, Red Robin, Oracle, Black Bat, BB, and Blue."

"Are you ever going to go back to Gotham without me?"

"No."

He looked over the rest of the League, who quickly shook their heads. Nodding, he walked to the Zetatubes, "I will go see how my city fares. My report will be submitted later. I hope you remembered to submit a report about your mission in Gotham, and didn't leave anything out." He warns as he leaves, not even glancing behind him.

Superman smiled, "so, how was Gotham?"

"Scary as shit!" Flash blurted, Green Lantern and Aquaman nodding along.

"They knew everything. And their minds were near impenetrable." Martian Manhunter said still mystified.

"And those Wayne boys...The one that was kiddnapped? Talked his kidnappers into not only letting him go, but turning themselves in. And apparently that's not the first time he's done that. The others, almost no emotion when we showed up, didn't seem to mind much that their brother was kidnapped and being beat while they watched." Wonder Woman ranted.

"And Tim, the kidnapped one, figured out how I gained my powers, I mean, even down to the chemicals, and knew about my nephew!" Flash sprouted again.

"And the other vigilantes, the Bats, weren't even in a rush to save him." Green Lantern pointed out.

"They also did not seem to need our help. They only let us stay with them because they did not want us roaming the city unattended, like we were children!" Aquaman adds, annoyed.

Superman just smiled, "I said keep an eye on it, not try to save it. I was hoping you would have noticed the others without interacting with them, then pestered Batman till he agreed to bring them up to introduce you. Now it seems, you've lost all hope of that happening unless the boys pester him."

"You knew?" Flash asked quickly, followed by everyone else's.

Superman nods, "I've been in the city many times, though not as Superman. The Waynes are a big portion of what I cover, along with the superhero community. I have an almost exclusive ability to interview them, and while I'm there, Batman usually allows me to observe, even help out if it's bad enough." He pauses to let them absorb this, "and you should be glad it's never bad enough to call you in, those people are crazy. The Joker alone is bad, but when they team up... You should really count your blessings that he's a Gotham villain, because he would tear apart any other city and then set it on fire and watch it burn from within the flames."

They are silent for a moment, surprised, "wow, I don't think I've ever heard you talk that dark before."

They all nod at Flash's comment, Green Lantern continuing, "I think you spent too much time with the Bat."  
  


Back at the Batcave, the heroes are just putting away their uniforms, "hey B!" Dick calls, the first to notice him.

"I heard you got a visit from the League?"

"Yep, it's all in the report!" He chirps, happily, giving an expectant smile.

"Good." Bruce nods, going over to give Dick the hug he so obviously wanted.

"Tt, Father. It's good to see you back."

"Damian," Bruce greets back, moving around so Dick could do what he always does.

Dick opened one of his arms wide, grinning at him, "come on Dami!"

Letting out an annoyed sigh, Damian gives in without much fuss, too tired to argue like he usually does, he allows Dick to pull him into the hug. Bruce wraps an arm around him, pulling him closer.

Tim comes out of the changing room completely oblivious of the group hug they have going on, only one thing on his mind; coffee. He gets pulled out of his thoughts halfway to the cave entrance when Dick calls for him.

"Baby Bird! Come join us!"

"Tt, not Drake as well."

At that resounding comment, Tim sighed heavily, "really Dick? Every time?"

Dick held his arm up, waving it to hurry him along as Tim slowly dragged his tired body over to the Batpile and is immediately absorbed into it's ranks.

Steph and Cass come out moments later and Dick doesn't even have to prompt them, they just do, years of muscle memory ingrained it in them. Cass slips under Bruce's arm to hug Damian and him better while Steph throws herself on top of where Tim is basically passed out in Dick's arms.

Last out is Jason, who takes one look at them and runs for his bike, out of the cave before Dick could even say anything.

"One of these days I'll get him to join," Dick promises sadly.

"Tt, doubt it. Todd has a bigger aversion to affection than -" Damian cuts himself off with a blush.

"Than who, Demon Brat?" Steph asks sweetly, "than you?"

"Shut up Brown."

"Aww, you're blushing!"

"Alright!" Dick interrupts, "that was nice, now lets end it before it ends in violence. Steph, would you take Baby Bird to his room, he's passed out?"

"Sure!" Steph hauls Tim's light weight body up, frowning at how easy it was, but didn't comment on it, no need to add fuel to Damian's long list of insults.

Once she disappears up the elevator, Dick turns to Damian, who is still being hugged by Cass, "Cass, why don't you take Little D upstairs as well?"

Cass nods, pulling a somewhat struggling Damian with her.

"What did you need to talk about?" Dick asks once they're gone, pulling away to follow Bruce to the Batchair.

Instead of answering, Bruce pulls up the reports of the days he was missing, noting everyone but Jason had filed them daily. "Jaso-"

"Jason spent that day with Roy, catching up. He didn't patrol that night either, just hung out with him." Dick cut him off before he could finish, Bruce just grunted in acknowledgment.

They continued in silence for a few minutes, both reading through reports until Dick asked, "have you ever thought of telling the League your secret ID?"

"No."

"But Uncle Clark knows!" Dick reasoned, "they didn't even know about us. I think you're keeping them too far in the dark about what goes on here in Gotham. What if something had happened to you and Clark? What if we were left here and they didn't know about us and thought we were villains instead?"

Bruce paused in his reading, thinking through Dick's argument, then allowed, "I will think about it. Until then, Clark is coming over tomorrow to do a piece about what I was up to in Europe."

Dick grinned, "so what was it you wanted to talk about?"

"Do the League suspect your identities? If they met both your civilian and your vigilante identities in the same day, connected like this, it would not be that hard to figure it out."

Dick thinks back, "they shouldn't, I feel like we were all acting differently. Course, I don't think I've ever meet another ten year old who talks quite like Dami, or tuts as much. So it's a maybe, we weren't on our best game, Timmy had been kidnapped, again, and we were all running on less than three hours sleep."

Bruce sighs, "okay, we'll deal with it if it comes to it. Get to bed Dick. You have work in the morning."

"Got it B. Glad you're back." He left to his room, checking in on the rest of the Bats on his way, Cass was petting Damian's hair as he slept, Steph was curled up with Tim, sleeping soundly. B was home, Jason was probably safe, and Dick was going to bed, all was right with the world.


	5. Watchtower Invasion

Batman was once again off world with Wonder Woman and one of the Lanterns, and Superman was on monitor duty. So when he heard the Zeta tubes turn on without calling out who arrived, he smiled. _Leave it to the Birds to sneak into one of the most secured bases ever._

Not a minute later, Nightwing stepped out of the shadows, "nice to see you again, Supes!"

"Nightwing! Been awhile. I have to admit, I expected you sooner."

"Tt, Grayson said we needed to wait for Father to be off world." Robin answered from the shadows Nightwing had come from.

"Names, Robin. And of course we had to, otherwise, Bats would have been here rounding us up already or never would have let us use the Zetas." Red Robin commented from the vents.

"Who all'd you bring?" 

"Black Bat, Batgirl, and us. Hood had a job, Blue asked for a rain check, Lark and Batwoman are patrolling." Nightwing tells him, "who's in the tower?"

"Currently, Aquaman, Flash, Green Arrow, Black Canary, Red Tornado, and Zatanna."

"I call Green Arrow!" Nightwing calls, jumping into the shadows before anyone could protest.

"I want Flash and Red Tornado." Red Robin claimed.

"Tt, Black Canary."

Before he could blink, Superman was alone, he smiled at the mayhem about to happen. He turned back to the monitors and switched through a few cameras before he could see everyone and sat back to watch the fun.

By the time Superman's time was up, Red, Flash and Red Tornado were all in a conversation in the cafeteria, Nightwing was still pranking and messing with Green Arrow, Robin and Black Canary had just finished fighting, Batgirl was talking and gossiping with Zatanna, and Aquaman was jumping at shadows after what Black Bat had put him through.

He quickly let out an announcement for Aquaman to relieve him of monitor duty and waited for the paranoid and skittish King to find his way in. "Superman, do you feel like someone is watching you? I have the same feeling that I get when Batman watches me, but twice as bad."

Superman smiles and shakes his head, "don't know what you could mean. Hello Black Bat."

"Hello," she replied from nowhere.

Aquaman jumps, "who was that? Who's Black Bat?"

"The one that's been following you around and generally creeping you out." Superman answers, "come on Cass. Lets go round up your siblings."

She materializes from right behind Aquaman, and slips behind Superman's cape, clinging to his shoulders. They leave Aquaman questioning so many things he can't even begin to get them in order.

First they pick up Nightwing, ignoring the now pink clothed and blue haired Green Arrow, and continue on to Red Robin. Once in the cafeteria, Nightwing all but throws himself at Red, barely even gaining a reaction from the three deep in an almost speedster level conversation. Black Canary and Robin are also eating in another corner, discussing fighting moves. Black Bat disappears only to come back a minute later with Batgirl and Zatanna behind her.

"Alighty gang! Time to leave before Daddy Bats comes back!" Nightwing says cheerfully, physically pulling Red from his conversation, Black Bat doing the same to Robin, "Hey, Uncl-Superman, you coming to the Cave? Agent A made dinner for everyone already."

"Well," Superman says, following them to the Zeta tubes, "if Agent A made dinner, it would be a shame to miss it."


	6. No One Claimed They Were Observant

Thinking back on it, something about that first meeting with the batpack in Gotham always nagged at Barry. And it wasn't just that that boy had managed to figure out how he got his powers. Something was really bothering him about that parting conversation. They seemed far too familiar with each other, even if he gets kidnapped as much as they say, he shouldn't be apologizing to the League in the Batboys' place. And how would he know if they had left the Watchtower unmanned? It's not like they tell everyone when a league member goes off-

Did he say Watchtower? How did a _civilian _know about the Watchtower? That's not something they told people about at all.

But he and Red seem to be on rather good terms, maybe the vigilante told the kid about it to discuss whatever. Or it could have been a throwaway comment or something else that he heard about but Red doesn't seem like the kind of guy to reveal secrets (even accidentally) unless necessary, he is a _Bat _after all.

So then, _how'd the kid know?_

"Barry," his thoughts were interrupted by Arthur watching him from the doorway with a raised brow. "If you're going to mumble, at least do it at a speed other people can understand."

"Also," Hal said with a wink, "you're going to wear a trench in the floor if you keep pacing like that."

"Guys!" Barry zips over to them, not even questioning when he started talking out loud. "you remember when we went to Gotham that first time?"

A flash of residual fear crossed their faces before they nodded uncertainly.

"Okay, so the kid, the kidnapped one, what's his name, he mentioned the Watchtower, right? Do you remember that?"

Hal shrugged, having mostly repressed those memories, and any memories of Gotham trips there after.

Arthur nodded slowly though, "indeed, I do remember him saying it in passing, toward the end, I think. And the kid's name is Timothy Wayne."

Hal cocked his head, "I thought it was Drake?"

There was a flash of wind and a second later Barry was back, "it's Drake Wayne, but not the point here. He's a civilian, how did he know about the existence of the Watchtower?"

That gets Arthur more alert, but Hal just shrugs, "he was smart enough to figure your power thing out, right? Maybe he's just extremely smart? Maybe there was a conspiracy theory about it that he believed, why's it matter?"

"No, he's right, Hal, the existence of the Watchtower was extremely confidential at that time, if he knew about it, we should find out how." Arthur cut in, a concerned frown on his face.

"But it's in _Gotham_," Hal shuddered, "maybe we should just let Bats deal with it."

Barry shakes his head, "don't you guys find it odd how close the Bats were with Tim? I don't think they'd be the most impartial investigators on this."

Hal hummed, "that's true, they were rather close. Maybe one of the Bats let it slip once and he just remembered it?"

Arthur and Barry both shook their heads, "the Bats don't seem like the kind to let it slip on something _that _secret," Arthur points out.

"They _are _the Bats after all," Barry taps his foot against the ground at light speed, "Nightwing even told us that Batsy wouldn't let them out there if they couldn't keep secrets."

Before they can say any more, Red Robin comes stumbling in from the opposite entrance, a bouncy Nightwing skipping after him. Red doesn't seem to notice them as he zombie walks his way to the main computer, extra large coffee cup in hand and mouth moving fast enough that even Barry had a hard time understanding his mutterings. Nightwing for his part, waves enthusiastically at them as he catches Red before he can trip and face plant. 

The trio watch in silence as Red types on the computer for a good five minutes, mumbling about corrupt corporations and annoying press and Lex Luthor of all people. The screen shows a long code that the three would rather not even try to decipher by the time he's done and being lead back out by the overly bubbly Nightwing.

They stand in silence for a few more minutes, absorbing what they saw, it's not the first time that's happened, but it's still an experience every time. Suddenly Barry gets an idea, a really stupid idea that has an almost impossible chance of being correct. He zips the the computer and pulls up a picture of Timothy before cropping a domino onto his face and squinting. _Maybe?_

The other two watch him as he pulls up the medical file of Red Robin and the civilian file on Tim Drake Wayne and compare them, _Height: 5'7", Weight: 140 lb, Blood Type: O negative_.

"Holy shit," Hal mutters, "what about the other Waynes?"

Barry pulls up Richard Grayson Wayne's file with Nightwing beside it, _5'10", 175 lb, AB positive. _He continues until he's compared the whole lot that they can, Bruce Wayne, Damian Wayne, even the deceased Jason Todd Wayne, and they all match up.

"Oh," Arthur says, staring at the screens, "Bats isn't going to like this."

Hal shivers, "do we have to tell him?"

"He'll figure it out. It's better to just tell him we know and hope he doesn't kill us," Barry whispers.

"Oh, he won't kill ya," a deep voice murmurs from behind where they're all huddled around the computer, making them jump at the unexpected voice. They all turn to see Red Hood grinning at them dangerously, "doesn't mean the demon brat won't though."

Barry gulps, "are you going to tell him?"

Hood's grin gets even sharper if that's possible, "nah," they breathe a sigh of relief, "he already knows."

"What?" Hal and Barry squeak as Arthur spits out a startled, "how?"

"Replacement made a program that will alert them if anyone pulls up a Bat's medical files in conjunction with their civilian files." Hood shrugs, "so he's already more than aware that you three know. If we're all lucky, he'll let everyone know so we can stop with all this cloak and dagger about our idents. It's damn annoying."

There's a hum from the vents before Nightwing's voice floats down, "trust me Hood, I've been trying to get him tell more than just Uncle Clark about us, but Dad's stubborn. Can't do much about that."

"Tt, Father knows better than to trust these ingrates with our secrets," Robin says in the most scathing voice the ten year old can muster from the other doorway.

Red comes stumbling back in, "why's everyone in here?"

Hood grabs him before he can run into anything or fall, "the three musketeers over there figured out our idents, so we're hazing them."

Red cocks his head, "oh, did they finally figure out that a civilian wasn't supposed to know about the Watchtower?"

There's silence as they process that before Hood sighs, "Timmy, did you give them a hint on purpose?"

"Tt, leave it to Drake to create a mess."

"To be fair," Red says, "I was riding a 50 hour sleep dep. _And _I had a concussion. It seemed like a good plan at the time. B already chewed me out for it."

Nightwing sighs as he slips himself out of the vents to pick Red up, "oh, Babybird, I told you to get some sleep."

"Well," Red mumbles as Nightwing starts to carry him out of the room, Hood following, "B agreed with me. Said he'd tell the whole League when someone figures it out. I was just moving the process along, didn't think it'd take a whole year for someone to get it though."

After they were long gone, and Robin mysteriously vanished, Arthur shook his head and wandered off, Hal threw up his hands and stalked back to the Zetas to sleep at home for once, and Barry just closed out of the computer and returned to monitor duty. All three thinking the same thing; _Damn Bats._


End file.
